There's a story my mother used to tell us about how her parents were married. Apparently my grandmother's family were well to do in Sicily, her father being the owner of multiple pasta factories. She was an educated woman. Her father died young, and Giuseppina and her mother came to America where one of Giuseppina's older brothers (Joseph, who had become the head of the family at his father's death) made a comfortable living and agreed to support them. He owned a construction company of some sort, and one of his workers was the young man who would become her husband.
As the story goes, Joseph arranged the marriage; his mother objected because she considered the man a peasant, but Joseph's decision was made. My grandmother had no say in the matter, and the marriage took place at City Hall in New York. She wasn't told she was to be married (she spoke no English at the time), simply that they were going 'a City Hall'. When she found out after the fact, she was terrified - she was married to this man she'd never met. Her mother was adamant that they would not live together as man and wife until they were married in the church, so Josie came home with her mother until the church wedding a month later.
My grandmother was an incredibly sweet woman, forced to marry a man who never smiled or showed happiness. She bore him 5 children (4 of whom lived to maturity) and must have had a very difficult life, though she never complained.
The photograph, I think, tells the whole story - what stoic, unhappy faces!
As the story goes, Joseph arranged the marriage; his mother objected because she considered the man a peasant, but Joseph's decision was made. My grandmother had no say in the matter, and the marriage took place at City Hall in New York. She wasn't told she was to be married (she spoke no English at the time), simply that they were going 'a City Hall'. When she found out after the fact, she was terrified - she was married to this man she'd never met. Her mother was adamant that they would not live together as man and wife until they were married in the church, so Josie came home with her mother until the church wedding a month later.
My grandmother was an incredibly sweet woman, forced to marry a man who never smiled or showed happiness. She bore him 5 children (4 of whom lived to maturity) and must have had a very difficult life, though she never complained.
The photograph, I think, tells the whole story - what stoic, unhappy faces!
There's a story my mother used to tell us about how her parents were married. Apparently my grandmother's family were well to do in Sicily, her father being the owner of multiple pasta factories. She was an educated woman. Her father died young, and Giuseppina and her mother came to America where one of Giuseppina's older brothers (Joseph, who had become the head of the family at his father's death) made a comfortable living and agreed to support them. He owned a construction company of some sort, and one of his workers was the young man who would become her husband.
As the story goes, Joseph arranged the marriage; his mother objected because she considered the man a peasant, but Joseph's decision was made. My grandmother had no say in the matter, and the marriage took place at City Hall in New York. She wasn't told she was to be married (she spoke no English at the time), simply that they were going 'a City Hall'. When she found out after the fact, she was terrified - she was married to this man she'd never met. Her mother was adamant that they would not live together as man and wife until they were married in the church, so Josie came home with her mother until the church wedding a month later.
My grandmother was an incredibly sweet woman, forced to marry a man who never smiled or showed happiness. She bore him 5 children (4 of whom lived to maturity) and must have had a very difficult life, though she never complained.
The photograph, I think, tells the whole story - what stoic, unhappy faces!
As the story goes, Joseph arranged the marriage; his mother objected because she considered the man a peasant, but Joseph's decision was made. My grandmother had no say in the matter, and the marriage took place at City Hall in New York. She wasn't told she was to be married (she spoke no English at the time), simply that they were going 'a City Hall'. When she found out after the fact, she was terrified - she was married to this man she'd never met. Her mother was adamant that they would not live together as man and wife until they were married in the church, so Josie came home with her mother until the church wedding a month later.
My grandmother was an incredibly sweet woman, forced to marry a man who never smiled or showed happiness. She bore him 5 children (4 of whom lived to maturity) and must have had a very difficult life, though she never complained.
The photograph, I think, tells the whole story - what stoic, unhappy faces!
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